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Staging Goa: Glimpses of Theatre
By Isabel de Santa Rita Vas
[Video killed radio? asks the song. Not quite, listen to F.M!
Computer killed the book? Not really: hundreds of books are
published every day, look at the catalogues! Mass media killed
theatre? Not on your life! The value of theatre does not diminish
with competition from other fields of entertainment. This insightful
article into the world of theatre in Goa -- across diverse languages
and social groups -- is written by a lady at a Panjim college
(Dhempe's) who passed on the love of theatre to more than a
generation of students.]Super-hit comedy, Sangat ami Bhurgim Konnachim, Tragedy King Mario Menezes announces today's advertisement on Leisure Page. 304th Show, Prince Jacob Productions presents Rupnnem. It never ceases to amaze me that despite the huge onslaught of the mass media worldwide, theatre still continues to happen.
Whether you look at Goa, or China or Sri Lanka or Argentina or England, here and there and elsewhere small groups of theatre enthusiasts or larger professional outfits are happily engaged in staging what matters to them.
Theatre still happens in village squares, streets and courtyards, in private houses and community halls and high-tech auditoriums. In times of economic prosperity and equally in times of war or political oppression, theatre stages the lives of individuals and societies. In so doing, it helps articulate, assert, question or subvert the culture; to fashion maps of meaning, to create a community experience or to provide creative space to artistes.
Nothing can really replace the experience of a live performance. To watch Raja Oedipus raising blind outraged eyes to the skies in the mini-open-air theatre at Kala Academy is to feel life in the raw.
I delve into childhood memory to discover what Goa might have had to offer in terms of performance half a century ago. Intriguing snapshots surface: the primary school concert where I stepped out of a large cardboard box as a Shanghai doll; the fell at intruz time -- the typical folk street play at Carnival in Salcete, where men played women's roles; the Tiatr written and directed by our cook, young man Laurente, apparently conceived as a tragedy, which my aunt and I found quite irresistibly funny; the play in Portuguese by a local cast -- Barco Sem Pescador -- which imprinted itself on my imagination with its striking theme of the power of intention; the German play in translation Anton and Dotty translated and directed by Dorothy Braganza, where a little boy sells match-boxes for a living -- 'Matches, buy matches, dear ladies and gentlemen!'; the magic show by Conde de Aguiar, a renowned Portuguese performer who, in a highly theatrical performance, literally pulled a white rabbit out of his black top hat before my astounded eyes.
Perhaps this last could stand as a metaphor of the magic that the live performance has worked on me -- a long-eared white rabbit emerging live and startling, from an innocuous black hat.
Diverse Masks
Goa stages itself in various roles, costumes and masks. People flock to Cacra village to watch the performance of the Zagor. The Carnival 'fell' in the villages around Margao was in years past a source of great amusement and public revelry, but is now all but extinct. Its offshoot is possibly the Khell-tiatr now more formally staged on erected stages in village squares feast days, and in auditoriums in the towns.
The Tiatr proper has a form all its own and both these (Tiatr and Khell-tiatr) enjoy immense popularity. The Natak is staged at festival time in temple courtyards.
Various communities celebrate the seasons in their own unique style: the Sangodd of the fishing community, the Dhalo of the women folk, the Bonderam of the villages of Divar. Amateur Marathi theatre is growing self-assured, English theatre has a small educated urban following. And off and on, visiting troupes can be seen performing in Goa.
Perhaps all these instances do not add up to a whole lot of drama; but then again, what theatre there is, casts interesting light on the face of Goa.
Zagor
Zagor is an age-old folk festival. Late at night the village folk gather at the maand --- the sacred performance space and open the celebrations with a naman --- an invocation prayer. The festivities last the whole night; the performance is vigorous and feisty; the actors on stage weave together song, dance and character roles into a complex act; the performers are exclusively male, and women's roles are enacted by men in women's costumes; stock characters make their appearance in bright colours -- the daughter-in-law, the single woman, the village watchman, the hunters and the flower-vendor -- to the enthusiastic reception by the audience.
Traditional musical instruments -- the gumat, dhol taso and casanle -- provide melody and strong rhythms. The songs are sung in Konkani and their sweet strains evoke heart-felt response from the local villagers and visitors who come from far and near to participate in what is earthy entertainment with deep overtones of ritual.
The Gawda Zagor at Cacra, the Penni Zagor at Xeldem, Quepem, and the Shiolim Zagor at Siolim, for instance, have managed to hold their own through the centuries and are being self-consciously recognized as cultural wealth than must not be allowed to perish.
Ritual and Performance
A variety of traditional festivals contain facets with theatrical elements. These attest to the deep-seated need of the people for play, ritual, myth making and celebration.
The fishing community celebrates Sangodd, with local boats being decorated and sailed, sometimes tied together to form a stage for popular performances as the audience applauds from the riverbanks.
The three days of Carnival (Intruz) have been marked with small bands of enthusiasts moving through the streets of the village performing farcical stories (Fell/Khell) at market places, church squares or the courtyards of private houses.
Bonderam is a rainbow-coloured festival held on the island of Divar, where people spill out onto the streets holding aloft multi-coloured flags, (bandeiras -- flags, in Portuguese ) dancing and performing merrily, playing with fottash and tefllan or bamboo toy-guns. Apparently the performance commemorates ancient tribal conflicts over ownership of land. Not surprisingly, Bonderam is part of the harvest festival.
The making and burning of the Narkasur (demon) by local youths is a highly dramatic occasion in Goa and urban youth participate in large numbers: small and large effigies of the demon with bulging muscles and protruding tongue, made of straw and wood and stuffed with fire-crackers are built. The night bursts with revelry as the merry-makers set them on fire to the accompaniment of chanting and dancing to celebrate the defeat of evil by the powers of light.
The Zatra associated with the temples are imbued with performative
character. The tribal women folk stage their concerns in their own,
exclusive dance, the Dhalo. Various practices of Christians on
special occasions combine devotion with popular taste for pageantry,
e.g. children dressed as angels during novenas, or the unusual
spectacle of All Saints at Goa Velha, where the parishioners carry
larger than life statues of saints in a procession.At San Joao or the feast of Saint John the Baptist, the young men deck themselves with palm-leaf crowns and intoxicated with feni and copious rains, perform reckless leaps into a well, accompanied by chants of 'San Joao, San Joao!'
A well-known dance-cum-folk play is performed with great pomp and full regalia by the descendants of the Kshatriyas among the Christians of Chandor: the Mussol (pounding pestle in Konkani) Fell or Khell. It is a ritual to ward off evil. Unlike other festival dances of agricultural character, here we see a war dance and an invocation to Lord Shiva. The performers march from house to house chanting.
The Khell is believed to have historical connotations, some say a commemoration of the victory of King Harihara II over the Cholas at the fort of Chandrapur in the fourteenth century. The event is theatrical in the extreme, with the use of elaborate costumes, masks and properties and prescribed story lines.
Natak
A formal kind of theatre associated with the Hindu temple festivals is the Natak. Plays are rehearsed and performed on a raised stage by amateur actors for a large audience that gathers in the temple courtyard. Themes are generally based on stories from the Scriptures and myths, and are often stretched to accommodate comments on the contemporary social or political situation. The language is Marathi or Konkani.
Today the Natak makes its way to the formal auditorium. Well-known writers and directors like Vishnu Wagh, Pundalik Naik, Prakash Vazarikar, Datta Ram Bambolkar, Mahesh Naik, Prasad Lolyenkar and others experiment with political satire, social critique and individual soul-searching. Without losing touch with traditional forms, they essay to stretch and expand them.
Tiatr
Much has recently been written about the most popular form of theatre in Goa, the Konkani Tiatr. The name derives from the Portuguese term Teatro.
Lucasinho Ribeiro is known to have written and produced the first Tiatr, Italian Bhurgo, in 1892. Ribeiro, a Goan living in Bombay, worked as a backstage artist for an Italian opera company and travelled with the troupe to Poona, Madras, Simla and Calcutta. As the troupe left for Burma, Ribeiro returned to Bombay and set out to write and stage a Konkani 'opera' of sorts for his fellow Goans.
He is said to have looked for an alternative to the Zagor, which he found often crude and bawdy. The Tiatr was given definitive status by Joao Agostinho Fernandes. He wrote, directed and staged Tiatr and, all of a century ago, had the initiative to publish his scripts in a book form.
The structure of the Tiatr is rather unusual: it consists of six or seven acts or podd'dde and between the acts the audience is regaled with songs (Cantaram), a solo, a duet, a trio, a quartet or group songs, unconnected with the central theme or plot of the play. The songs are an important element.
The twelve to fifteen songs on social, political or religious themes contribute greatly to the success or otherwise of the Tiatr.
Women took to the Tiatr stage as early as 1904. Regina Fernandes, the wife of Agostinho Fernandes was the first actress and others followed: Maria Luiza, Anne, Ida, Ermelinda, Georgina, Carlotta and today, many others. The more informal Khell was raised from the level stage in the open village square or street corner to the raised platform and the proscenium theatre in the 1960s by Antonio Piedade Moraes of Benaulim.
The new form is referred to as the Khell-Tiatr or Non-Stop Tiatr: all the songs it includes are inter-woven with the main theme. Both Tiatr and Khell-Tiatr are hugely popular, specially with the Christian middle-class, draw large crowds and run into dozens, even hundreds of shows.
They are staged wherever Goans live, even faraway Kuwait or Toronto. The artistes enjoy enormous prestige and their names are household words: Antonio Moraes, Jacinto Vaz, C.Alvares, Remmie Colaco, Souza Ferrao, Souzalino, Master Vaz, Prem Kumar, M. Boyer, John Claro, Alfred and Rita Rose, Robin Vaz, Patrick Dourado, Tomazinho Cardozo, Wilmix, Sharon, Rosario Rodrigues, Mike Mehta, Roseferns, Prince Jacob and others.
The themes of the Tiatr touch upon the lives of the common man and woman and their contemporary contexts. They veer round the social, political and religious concerns of Goans today. A large number of Tiatr with religious themes are staged around the season of Lent and Christmas, and are sometimes written and directed by priests. The combination of comedy with serious issues appeals to Tiatr audiences as do the stylized acting and the live music band.
The Sunday papers are splashed with abundant advertisements of the Tiatr and Khell-tiatr making the rounds. A typical entertainment page will read: Rupnnem, Today, Prince Jacob Productions, People Want to see it Again and Again. And: Ugddass, Releasing This August, Roseferns, Pascoal Rodrigues, Comedian Agustin, Xavier Gomes, Comedian Luis Bachan, Jr. Rod, Francis de Tuem, Comedienne Joana and etc, etc, Have U Guessed Who is the Writer and Director of this Tiatr? Keep on Guessing. And: 2nd Mega Production Subsequent to the 1st Superhit. Golden Voiced Glen Fernandes Writer and Director Presents Mai Paichem Noxib. Introducing for the 1st Time on the Konkani Stage Stained Glass Mandovi Bridge with Actors Acting on it! New Style Opening Chorus. New Style Rib-tickling Comedy. New Style Music. Guarantee to Make you Cry. 6 Special Songs. New Style Role Introduced by Glen and the Same Role Played by Your Favourite: PASCOAL RODRIGUES. Pascoal Rodrigues and Antonet de Calangute will enact an Unforgettable ROLE OF A LIFETIME. And: Today, Parents Please Note. Superhit Tiatr. Khor Mhojem Tujea Kallza Sarkem. And: Releasing Super New Style Non-Stop Drama. Smashing! Story 100% Hit Comedy. We Bet You'll Have to Try Not to Cry. BYE-BYE, TA-TA.
Kala Academy- Goa, can take credit for giving a massive fillip to the Tiatr with the regular Tiatr Festivals it has promoted since 1974. Moreover, it provides auditoriums with adequate sound and light equipment. This has enabled Tiatr directors to refine their techniques.
Theatre groups like Kala Mogi founded and led by Tomazinho Cardozo play a major role in sustaining the vitality of the Tiatr as a dramatic form. The Marathi Stage Marathi theatre in Goa has been energized by its highly developed counterpart in Maharashtra. Though professional Marathi theatre finds it difficult to survive, the amateur theatre has achieved a commendable standard.
Vishnu Wagh, R. Tamba, Ajay Vaidya, Dnyanesh Moghe and many other names of stalwarts shine on this firmament. A rare all-children's-cast production was performed in Marathi recently, and was well received.
English Theatre English theatre has a minuscule following in Goa, making its
survival precarious. Small ventures have seen the light of day:--- The
Pumpkin Theatre by Hartmann d'Souza and others; Naqab by Judy Barreto; plays
directed by Sonia de Souza, short plays by Alfwold Silveira, and by Aftab
Khan; operas and operettas have been staged by Fr. Lourdino Barreto at the
Western Music Department of the Kala Academy, and by Fr. Valmiki Dias. Children's theatre is currently being fostered by Anne Barreto d'Souza.
English medium schools and colleges contribute in a modest way to promote the love of theatre with adaptations of musicals or by participating in one-act play competitions. The Mustard Seed Art Company was founded in 1987 by a group of amateurs and has consistently experimented with a variety of forms and theater spaces. It believes in the magic of theatre to explore significant questions; it attempts to create a space for originality and experimentation and highlights local themes.
One of the many original scripts performed by the group, Who Sits Behind My Eyes, won The Hindu/ The Madras Players Award in the Special Category for Contemporary English Playwrights. As a member of the group myself, the theatre connection has inevitably worked its powerful magic on me too!
Interconnections
A rather unfortunate phenomenon is that theatre audiences (and writers/directors) are divided into almost exclusive segments: for instance, aficionados of theatre in English know nothing of the Marathi stage, and fans of the latter, in turn, may not be very respectful of the Konkani genres.
There are exceptions. The Natak and the Tiatr have linked arms in the latest Prince Jacob production, Rupnnem. This Konkani translation of Kedar Shinde's Marathi Sahi re Sahi has been noted as an interesting adaptation, even as it has been accused by some devoted lovers of Konkani as a betrayal of their beloved language! Goembab, written by Serafino Cota and dramatized by Anil Kumar, has also been seen as a 'fusion of Konkani Tiatr and Natak'. It stages the work of Shennoi Goembab in favour of strengthening the Konkani language.
An original English play (mine!) Spectacles of Peace, was translated into Marathi as Shatatechya Chasmyatun, and staged by Kala Ankur. It won the First Prize at the Kala Academy All Goa Marathi Drama Competition.
Visiting theatre
Theatre comes to Goa on invitation too -- and it includes all kinds, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Over the years interesting plays have found their way here. Children of a Lesser God directed by Pearl Padamsee, Evita by Alyque Padamsee, Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot starring Nasiruddin Shah, stand out among the English plays.
Hindi and Marathi plays also travel to Goa thanks to the initiative and financial support of Kala Academy. Theatre workshops have been conducted by talented directors like David Greaves and Michael Burrell, courtesy The British Council, and by various Indian resource persons from the National School of Drama, New Delhi, and elsewhere.
Farce and bed-room comedy from neighbouring Mumbai has -- strangely -- a large following among the literate urban middle-class. Yes, some theatre does come to Goa by invitation. That is not really staging Goa -- but it does feed the imagination of theatre directors, writers and audiences.
Theatre has been alive in other avatars too: street theatre is used by NGOs like Sangath Centre, Positive People and Bailancho Saad to conscientize the public on social issues like family violence, AIDS related challenges or women's rights.
A three-year course is offered by Kala Academy to graduates in an discipline; Kala Academy also runs a Repertory Company; the names of V. Josalkar, Mrs. Josalkar, Afsar Hussain and Sandeep Kalangutkar are closely bound up with Kala Academy programmes. Directors like S. Kamat Bambolkar, Satish Gawas, Siddharth and Dananjay have conducted workshops in various aspects of theatre for children and others all over Goa.
Seven schools in Goa run Theatre Arts in the curriculum, supported by the Indian Foundation for the Arts, Bangalore. St. Xavier's College, Mapusa encourages drama through a Theatre Club.
Video killed radio? asks the song. Not quite, listen to F.M!
Computer killed the book? Not really: hundreds of books are
published every day, look at the catalogues! Mass media killed
theatre? Not on your life! The value of theatre does not diminish
with competition from other fields of entertainment.Theatre entertains with special skills. The performance on stage links playwright, director, actor, technician and audience in live participation mode. The energy of a play coming to life in a community is impossible to replicate on the TV screen.
Theatre can be so region-specific (and yet universal in theme!) that it can truly enter the lives of all who are part of it. The stage has no mean potential to question culture, to subvert oppression, as also to reinforce values and norms, even as it entertains.
Theatre in Goa may not boast of large audiences. Yet, it lives under one mask or the other. It can bloom vigorously with a little conscious help from friends --- audiences that patronize it, sponsors that believe in it, a government that supports and subsidizes it. In Stratford-on-Avon, Will Shakespeare's home town, they declare that Where There's a Will There~Rs a Play. Why should anybody in Goa bother about the stage? Simple, because in its diversity and complexity, it performs Goa as nothing else can. (Goanet)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Isabel de Santa Rita Vas mentors students at the Dhempe College of Arts and Science at Miramar, Panjim, where her patience and spirit has impressed a large number of her students.
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